Thursday 13 June 2013 04.56 EDT
First published on Thursday 13 June 2013 04.56 EDT

I joined the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) in 1989. I didn't know it at the time, but back then there were only two female ambassadors, and women were barely represented at the most senior levels of the organisation. My grandma looked stunned when I said I wanted to be a diplomat and said: "Surely you mean a diplomat's wife!"

Fast-forward 24 years, and the FCO is a very different organisation, reflecting changes in the world around us. As the foreign secretary William Hague has said, an organisation that is inclusive and representative of the nation is one that is better placed to be the best diplomatic service in the world.

From just over 40 years ago when the marriage bar on women was finally lifted, the organisation has rightly changed as people realise the demands of an FCO career are very different from the stereotypes. The FCO board now has about 40% female representation; 45% of our fast stream intake for 2012 were women; and we have 39 female heads of post across our global network, including in Pretoria, Geneva, Vienna, Harare, Mexico City, Helmand and the UK Delegation to Nato.

Our flexible working practices are some of the best in Whitehall and we have come a long way, but there is still more to do to attract and retain diverse talent. The FCO is not yet meeting its targets on representation of minority groups, including women, black and minority ethnic and disabled staff at senior levels. And the old stereotypes ("Ambassador, with these Rocher, you're really spoiling us!") still conspire against our efforts to encourage a wider cross-section of British society to join.

That's where our future talent scheme comes in. It runs for six weeks over the summer, and this year we're taking 10 female undergraduates in their penultimate year of university. (We're also taking five undergraduates, of both genders, who are studying hard languages.)

Students are placed in a range of departments where they will get to experience the kind of work a new fast stream entrant would experience – such as briefing ministers, writing policy papers, or arranging visits – and are paid a full salary for the period of their placement.

Feedback from the scheme has been very positive, giving talented individuals an insight into what 21st-century diplomacy looks like (clue: no chocolates-on-trays in sight).

Applications for this year's scheme have just closed, and we had almost 800 bids, which shows the enthusiasm out there for the opportunity to gain work experience in the FCO. Several participants from previous intakes have gone on to secure employment with us or the wider civil service, which runs a number of other positive action schemes in which we also participate.

As current HR director and a member of the FCO board, I'm proud of the progress we've made to modernise and to diversify our workforce so that it is more representative of modern Britain. The future talent scheme will help us to sustain this momentum, moving us further away from the stereotypes of yesteryear, and helping to reinforce our reputation as the best diplomatic service in the world.

More information about the FCO, including current jobs and recruitment programmes, can be found here.